my crafty adventures

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Welcome to my blog! My name is Jessica, and I'm a music professor from Kentucky. This blog details my journey into DIY style. I love to sew and knit my own clothes, and I'm a dedicated thrift store shopper! I also love fashion, so I'm attempting to marry my interests without causing myself to go bankrupt. I love bright colors, full skirts, and vintage styles. I love to answer questions, and I can be reached by email at jmills01@gmail.com.

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Month: March 2007

Last night, filled with ripple fever, I went to Michael’s crafts and actually bought yarn. I haven’t bought yarn there in forever, but I want my ripple to be machine washable! Here’s what I came up with for a color scheme (and I know the idea is to use up yarn, but honestly I don’t have many leftovers.)

And here’s an idea of how I want them laid out:

I think I might place an additional light blue stripe between the black and navy. I’m considering another color instead, but I’m not sure what to chose there… any suggestions? I chose these colors because they’re fairly neutral, they match the living room rug, and they are as far removed from the orange/rust/avocado ripple monstrosities of my childhood as possible.

I went looking for a good free ripple pattern online, but I couldn’t find one that I liked, so I made up my own.

It looks similar to the”soft waves” pattern everyone is using, and it doesn’t require me buying another book. I’m also crocheting into the back loop in order to give more texture to the pattern. And yes, the only other simply soft I had was hot pink… you see why I don’t want to use leftover stash yarns here?

This morning also marked the beginning of yarn sale season for me. I know that I’ve waxed poetic about tag sales before, but I really do love them! This morning I bought a cute (very fake) Kate Spade bag for 50 cents, and also this guy:

The wrinkling is actually the plastic it’s covered in… the print is perfect. Isn’t it adorable? I love his sad little face. Also 50 cents! and I continued my quest to own only green coffee cups.

These were a quarter. You know, when we have to move it’s going to be because the place is overrun with yarn and random thrift finds. That’s ok, right?

Notes: I have many mixed emotions about this cardigan. I love the longer length of the body, and I love the asymmetrical fronts. The puffiness of the stitch pattern mostly blocked out, and I think if I actually tried I could get it totally flat. The seaming was a giant pain, and the sizing is off. The picture above? That’s with the sleeves cuffed. See below for what it actually looks like. I’m not entirely certain what to do here. The body fits perfectly, but the sleeves seem to have come from another sweater entirely. It isn’t just the length – the entire sleeve is rather large. I’m not sure that I’m willing to rip out the sleeves and make them shorter, so I’m probably doomed to cuffing. This sweater is a departure from my usual style – I like my cardigans short if not cropped. I need some reassurance that the sleeves don’t look totally dorky. Here’s the photo with the full length sleeves (although I will never wear them this way.)

I probably won’t have modeled pics before tomorrow, as it’s taking longer to dry now that all the pieces are together. I think the first picture gives you some idea of how gargantuan the sleeves are. I don’t think they’re supposed to be drop shoulders, but they are on me! Ah well… live an learn, right? It’s still a cute sweater, just not exactly the way I wanted it.

Sometimes I get very tired of having to change knitting patterns to make them smaller (designers? A size 34 is not an XS) although I will admit it has made me a better knitter. I can change top down patterns in a jiffy, but I still have some fears with sweaters made in pieces.

I have been bitten by the ripple bug. Now I simply must make my very own ripple blanket… but in what yarns? It must be machine washable, but I do not like the colors of most acrylics. Hmm… have to think about this one.

I came home early from work last night, and I’m staying home today. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me – sort of a general achy tiredness, combined with bad allergies. Last night I felt faint through an entire lesson, and I don’t want to terrify any kids, so… I think I’d better stay home. Hopefully it will sort itself out – I have tomorrow off as well, so that’s 2 days to rest.

Last night my cardigan pieces dried, so I approached seaming them together. Dear god, I hate seaming so much. Really, I just loathe it. This was especially full of nightmares, as I had to make sure the stripes lined up on most of the pieces. The selvedge edge was also not very useful, as the changing stitch patterns kept causing me to lose track of it, and it would be alternately too loose or too tight. The only easy part was seaming the side with the lace all the way down. This lets me know that it’s not I suck that badly at seaming, this sweater was just especially hard. I did pretty well though, except for the sleeves, which are just ok. I don’t think it will bother me enough to redo them, because seriously – who is staring at my sleeve seams?

Well, you all are now that I mentioned it, but… this took me nearly three hours. I still have to add the button band, and probably I will get to that tonight. Yesterday I bought some pretty pearly buttons. The fit of the cardigan so far is pretty good, with one exception. The sleeves (as I feared) are huge. And this is coming from someone with longer than average arms, I will have to fold them to wear them. They’re also somewhat wide I think, but I can live with that. But, as always, I reserve judgment until the sweater is finished. Edgings and buttons can make an enormous difference in my opinion of a garment.

While I was waiting for the sweater to dry I also made a start on the Puff Sleeve Cardigan from Fitted knits.

I’m using Cotton Fleece again, since I was so happy with it the last time. I’m hoping that it will have enough bounce to work as a sub here. I did have to go down a needle size. So far I’m loving this pattern. It’s certainly a relief to do a top down sweater after all that seaming! My row gauge is a little different, so I’ve already had to do some adjusting (I stopped my collar a few rows early, and I’m hoping it will stand up right when it’s finished – right now it seems big!)

I also received my yarn from the Knit Happens sale yesterday. I was so good – I only ordered some Cascade 220 (the quattro is for the U neck vest from fitted knits, the sapphire is for the Bluebell Boatneck from the same, and the Sienna is for stash.)

Left to Right: Quattro in Aruba, Sienna, and Sapphire Heather.

As an aside, has anyone else noticed that the Cascade 220 heathers and quattros are much softer than the regular colors? I usually only buy the heathers, so I was surprised to note that the Sienna is noticeably less soft (although it’s still nice.)

Last night I finished the cable panel and sewed the back to the fronts. If anyone makes this sweater, please pay careful attention when seaming so that you don’t try to put pieces on inside out! It’s all that reverse stockinette, it confuses me! Anyway, the 3 needle bind off went well after that, and now the sweater is blocking before I seam and add the button bands. This afternoon on my way to work I may go searching for buttons.

And yes, I have not weaved in all my ends yet, because I am lazy, plus I wanted to wait and see if any of them were useful for seaming. Hopefully it will be dry tonight so that I can begin to torture myself with the seams. It does seem to have lengthened a bit. This may, in fact, be the only knit I’ve made this year that wasn’t too short in the torso for me. I’m hopeful now that it will fit the way that I like my cardigans to fit – close in the bust, so that I can button only one or two buttons. I don’t think that I’ve completely buttoned a cardigan in years.

I’m involved in two KALs that run during the month of April, so I’m considering my options on what to start next. The “Sexy Knitters club” is doing Rusted Root, and I’m also in the “Fitted Knits along” for which I could make either the ribbed shrug or the puff sleeved cardigan (well, there are several others I’m stashing yarn for as well, but they will wait for autumn.) I’m leaning towards that cardigan, even though I’m going to have to make up a smaller size. Fortunately, I looked at the pattern, and it looks as though it will be pretty easy to crunch the numbers. I’m getting pretty good at adjusting the size of top down patterns, which is probably why I prefer those over knits made in pieces.

I’m more than halfway through the final panel of my cardigan. If all my plans go well, I should finish it up tonight, seam the shoulders and then get to blocking the pieces. I think this panel will be much improved by blocking. Without the stockinette panels to hold it out, the lace kind of sucks together and the edges roll, and the cables are really puffy too. Hopefully it will block to size (right now it is tiny!)

Two of the LYS here are having 20% sales this week. Yesterday I went to do my part of the local economy and bought some silky wool (I’ve been wanting this color for ages!) and Cotton Fleece in Pinecone.

I might try the Knitting Pure and Simple shaped cardigan that I’ve got in the silky wool, and I’m wanting to swatch for the Fitted Knits puff sleeve cardigan in the Cotton Fleece.

We had a really busy weekend around here. On Saturday we drove up to Cincinnati for Marc’s cousin’s wedding. I thought it was a really nice wedding, very classy. Here we are, one of the rare times that we’re both dressed up at the same time.

On Sunday I covered some extra church services to make up for missing Saturday, and then I spent the rest of my day repairing the house. It’s currently 85 degrees outside, and we don’t have central air here. We do have several window units, but one of them totally died last summer, so off we went to buy a new one. When we got it home we decided to put the new, larger unit in the living room and put the old on in the bedroom. Unfortunately, when we took the unit out, this is what we found.

When we moved in last summer the air conditioners were already in place. I knew that sometime last summer that unit had leaked and damaged some paint, but I didn’t realize that it apparently it was an ongoing problem left for us by the last owners. So I thought “No big deal, I’ll just sand it down and repaint.” Unfortunately, once I got started I realized that the paint on the baseboard was damaged also. And when I took it off? I found this:

Lovely mold, right? I think it was only mildew caused by moisture… or at least that’s what I’m hoping. So I scraped and scraped, and finally repainted, leaving this:

It’s not the greatest paint job, but to be honest I just wanted it covered. The sill is clearly rotten and needs to be replaced. And this window is behind the stairwell door, which is frequently open, so it won’t be seen much. You see how jacked up that wall is? Nearly all our walls are like that… the joys of 90 year old plaster I suppose. I also enjoy the old electrical outlet there that has been painted over lots. I really think the walls are held together with spackle. We painted the whole house last June, and already I can see cracks reappearing through the paint.

Not to complain though… I love this place, and I do love the plaster walls (we never hear our neighbors!)

Oh yes, and actual knitting content! I have finished all except the left front of my dollar and a half cardigan.

It still looks a bit big to me, but I’m reserving judgment. I’m still loving the pattern and yarn!